In What Year Of Dempsey's Reign Did Wills Most Deserve His Shot?

Wills did far more to be considered ducked than Liston did to Patterson. Sonny Liston didnt become the top contender for the HW championship until May of 1960 when JOHANSSON was champion, not Patterson. By that time the rematch with Patterson was already signed for the following month and Liston wouldnt solidify his ranking until he stopped Zora Folley that July. Folley had been ranked #1 for a long time prior to that but was dropped based on his performance against Machen which allowed Liston to move up. When Patterson beat Johansson in the rematch it triggered a rubber match in their contract. That was March 1961. Five months later Liston was dumped from the ratings after being arrested for accosting a woman in a park in the early morning hours and then fleeing from police afterwards. After this was sorted out Patterson signed to fight him. The match was a big match and all parties wanted it held in an outdoor arena which could accommodate a large gate which meant waiting until the following summer. In the meantime Liston and Patterson appeared on a closed circuit double header to hype their match by facing Albert Westphal and Tom McNeeley. So from the time Liston was a top rated contender for Patterson (June 1960) until Patterson defended against him (Sept 1962) was just over two years. It was actually much less if you factor in when Patterson agreed to actually defend against him. Far less than the 7 years Wills was the consensus top contender for Dempsey.

 

Wills deserved it for most of Dempsey's reign, but they certainly weren't ready to give a black man a shot again after Johnson's reign.

 

Jeannette's next fight was the next month against Bartley Madden and was a win on a DQ.

"Cowler was nobody, look at his form at the time"

Which included a win over Gunboat Smith and three wins over Bill Brennan. I don't dispute that Cowler might not have been much, but what does this say about Dempsey's wins over Smith and Brennan, and especially the title defense against Brennan?

"Wills wasn't playing Sonny Liston to Dempsey's Patterson."

I agree. Patterson gave Liston a title shot. That is completely different from Dempsey regarding Wills. As for Liston as a contender, he first broke into the ratings in late 1958, moved up against second tier guys in 1959, and became the #1 contender in 1960 via wins over Harris, Folley, and Machen. After the win over Machen in September of 1960, he would only fight two journeymen, Howard King and Albert Westphal, over the next two years while waiting for his shot at Patterson. One could argue Liston sat on his #1 rating. Can't in a sense blame him for that, but Wills was fighting top men like Fulton, Norfolk, Firpo, and Weinert, as well as the second tier guys, so it seems twisted to me to rip Wills.

A direct comparison between Wills and Liston as contenders is impossible as Liston was not fighting in the color line era.

 

Wills was 35 when he fought Firpo. 37 for Sharkey and 38 for Uzcudun. Dempsey's career against top men ended in 1927 at 32 when he lost to Tunney.

Is this argument Wills must be put down because he was not filmed in his prime?

Fortunately for Joe Louis, he has films from earlier fights than the ones against Charles and Marciano when he was 36 and 37 (actually younger than Wills against Sharkey and Uzcudun). Ditto Ali against Spinks and Holmes. One would have very little idea of Louis or Ali in their primes off their filmed efforts in their late thirties.

 

"Way back in 1916"

Way back? Three years earlier when Cowler was 24. He was now 27. I am not arguing that Cowler was all that good, only that he was able to beat Smith once and Brennan three times before those men got to be "name" victims of Dempsey.

"Bearcat McMahon"

Didn't he beat Willard? I have to look him up at boxrec.

After losing to Jeannette, Cowler went 16-13-1 the rest of his career, including KO's of Erminio Spalla and Hans Breitenstaeter.

*McMahon did beat Willard in a newspaper decision in 1914. Boxrec has one newspaper scoring it 8-2-2 for McMahon. This is boxrec's description:

"McMahon took the fight directly to Willard, evading the giant's clinches and striking often to the head and body."

So for Cowler this was a win over a man who owned a win over the incumbent champion.